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Hackers as vital disruptors, inspiring a new wave of activism in which ordinary citizens take back democracy.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
The Hacker Ethic--Germany's Chaos Computer Club and the Genealogy of the Hacker Ethos In Berlin
Chapter 2
The Hacker Challenge--Cypherpunks on the Electronic Frontier
Chapter 3
A Manifesto for the Twenty-First Century--Privacy for the Weak, Transparency for the Powerful
Chapter 4
The Burden of Security--The Challenges for the Ordinary User
Chapter 5
Democracy in Cyperspace--First, the Governance Problems
Chapter 6
Culture Clash--Hermes and the Italian Hacking Team
Chapter 7
Democracy in Cyperspace--Then, the Design Problems
Chapter 8
The Gathering Storm--The New Crypto--and Information and Net Neutrality and Free Software and Trust-Busting--Wars
Chapter 9
Hacker Occupy--Bringing Occupy into Cyberspace and the Digital Era
Chapter 10
Distributed Democracy--Experiments in Spain, Italy, and Canada
Chapter 11
The Value and Risk of Transgressive Acts--Corrective Feedback
Chapter 12
Mainstreaming Hackerdom--A New Condition of Freedom

About the Author

Maureen Webb is a labor lawyer and human rights activist. She is the author of Illusions of Security- Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World and has taught national security law as an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia.

Reviews

'Coding Democracy' is a thorough, well-written work of scholarship that should be seen as a welcome addition to a growing body of work about the relationship between computing, society and government. A lawyer, Webb is able to weave the hacker narrative into various strands of thought relating to political science, history, legislation, law enforcement, regulations, civil law, politics and ethics.--Journal of Cyber Policy

She's building a powerful case for the fact that technology as we know it--omnipresent, flawed, world-improving--has become so entrenched and static that it really does need the hackers worrying the edges of its firewalls. In Webb's telling, hackers aren't heroes destined to bring the world to a grand new order of their own transgressive imaginings. They're agents of positive chaos.--Wired

Coders seeking to do good in the world will find much inspiration here.--Kirkus Reviews